Page 127 of Monstrous Serpent

“Iron your own shit.”

“Please.” I push out my bottom lip when he finally looks up.

He takes my shirt off his shoulder, holds it up, stares at it as if I handed him roadkill, then sets it down next to his.

This man. I could kiss him.

My fingers clench and unclench at my sides.

Tonight. Tonight we talk. Because I need to tell him how I feel because I’m done pretending this is just a friendship.

The board wobbles when Hunter leans into a crease, and he grabs the edge to steady it. One of the legs has been bent since Rua sat on it last month. Hunter threatened to iron his face. Rua winked and told him to buy him dinner first.

“Ease up on Jenkins tonight.”

I snort. “Yeah no. That's our thing, Hunt. He runs his mouth, I put him into the boards, he gets back up and runs it again. It's basically tradition at this point.”

“He's not just a rival anymore.”

“On the ice he is.” I grab the bag of marshmallows sitting next to the iron and fish one out. “And he'd be pissed if I went easy on him. You know that.”

Hunter's gaze locks onto the marshmallow in my hand as he growls. “Those are mine.”

“And?” I pop it into my mouth, holding it between my teeth.

He puts the iron down, closes the distance, then grabs my jaw. “Open.”

I smile, then wrap my lips around the marshmallow and wink.

His dark eyes drop to my mouth, grip loosening, and his pupils dilate.

My heart beats faster, skin heating. I spit the marshmallow out, and he doesn’t look away, doesn’t let go.

Tonight. Wait for tonight.

But when his nostrils flare, I crash my lips against his. Fuck waiting anymore.

Hunter doesn’t move, doesn’t kiss me back.

Tears start to gather in the corner of my eyes.

What did I just do?

I take a shuddering breath and start to pull away when he grabs the back of my neck, slamming his mouth onto mine. I gasp, blinking, my brain short-circuiting.

Hunter growls and licks into my mouth, his tongue sliding over mine.

My body comes online, and a moan that I've never made in my life tears out of me. Not during sex, not when I'm jerking off to the thought of him alone in the dark, not even when I’ve been with Cody.

He backs me up into the wall, pressing his entire body against mine, neither of us breaking the kiss. He pushes my thighs wider with his knees, steps between them, then slowly drags his hard cock against mine.

My breath catches in my throat.

He’s hard. For me.

Heat surges through my groin, and I buck against him. Again. And again.

Five years. Five years of wanting him. Wanting him to want me the same way. And he does. He fucking does.